INTO THE GROTTO

Studio Spring 2019
Florence, Italy

Collaboration with Kayleen O’Brien
Professor David Shanks +
Luca Ponsi


Italian Architecture is intrinsically linked to the underground and the idealization of space through the act of carving. Subtractive forms become the precedent for spatial creation seen in the Etruscan cave tombs carved into bedrock to mimic domestic interiors. These spaces, which create a sense of unease with the descent and relief upon final destination, become models for sacred and religious spaces and inform later Italian civilizations. Three primary elements of these spaces consist of the program, ritual, and phenomenological conditions-- all which help establish the grotesque as an architectural typology. Although not a conventional type existing in Architectural discourse, formidable research and documentation of these forms had to be conducted in order to understand both their composition and importance. The following diagrams include the research undergone in order to establish the typology seen all the way from the Etruscans, the Ancient Romans, the Renaissance and Baroque building.

The objective for the assignment was to design a new building for the Syracuse University School of Architecture’s Florence Program within the urban site of the Villa Rossa, the institution’s main campus, selectively choosing which built elements to keep. Following the precedent of Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Giambattista Nolli’s Map of Rome, this project visualizes itself within the context of a dense, urban fabric which is permeated and demarcated by architectural forms and poché. From this earlier investigation into carved interiors as a type in the lineage of Italian Architecture, the project “Into the Grotto,” attempts to bring these spaces above ground and activate their ritual and program as a functional, academic environment.Elements like calm, water, descent, and light activate different spaces and guide the users throughout the building. Rather than placing the carved forms into the poché at random, the processional corridors are organized to create light wells in the final spaces and deliver the users through axial transitions.

The forms that each of these spaces were derived from a modern conception of building. By ancient standards building solely with brick and mortar, the use of arches and domes were essential to the creation of vaulted spaces. With modern construction techniques, the carving operation is preformed through the conceptualisation of pouring concrete over a positive. This is most simply done through the ratification of the dome into volumes with planar surfaces. These volumes allow for more experiementation with verticality and the puncture into the bounding boxes creating controlled light wells into each of the key rooms.